SPONSORED | WE LOVE TO DREAM

When we first bought Little Man home from the hospital we were using a blanket to swaddle him for his sleeps.  I had read that swaddling babies was thought to help reduce the risk of SIDS and so I was all aboard the swaddling train.

As much as I love to eat burritos I couldn’t roll a baby burrito for the life of me.  I used to hand him over to his father for swaddling because he could do it in such a way that the kid would stay secured for more than 15 seconds.

It was like I had birthed the Great Houdini. He’d be perfectly wrapped one minute, arm out the top flailing around the next.  It drove me bonkers.

A few weeks into parenthood Kate shared with me some of her wonderful wisdom; buy a swaddle! They’d been using one with their son and loved it and recommended we try one out.  So we did.

…reach for the stars…

We did some research and decided on the Love to Dream Love to Swaddle UP (Original).  We decided to go with this version of a swaddle because they were competitively priced (a major factor when deciding!), they came in a range that allowed for different temperatures (I had read that keeping a baby at a certain temperature while sleeping reduced SIDS risks) and most importantly they had the unique feature which allowed bub to sleep with his arms up which meant he could self soothe.

It was awesome! It made getting him into bed so much easier, I didn’t have to worry about him slipping under his covers in the middle of the night (in fact I only had to put a cover sheet in his cot because the swaddle was his cover!) and when he woke for feeds he settled back to sleep so much easier because I wasn’t tossing and turning him to get him into a workable burrito.

We used those swaddles until he was about 7.5 months old and he started to be able to roll himself over and lift his body up when he was laying on his stomach. He’d started to fight the swaddle more and was getting a little more unsettled because of it.

We’ve been letting him sleep without a swaddle for the past month or so and he’s been waking up more in the middle of the night, he doesn’t self settle back to sleep and he never sleeps under his covers (which means he has hands like ice bricks when he wakes in the morning – another reason I don’t think he’s settling as well as he used to).

When I read that Love to Dream were looking for parents to try out their new Love to inVENTA Sleep Bag I jumped at the chance.  I didn’t know that you could get the armless swaddles i.e. sleeping bags! (Probably because I’ve stopped going into a baby store any chance I get!)

I was lucky enough to be selected to try out the new Love to inVENTA Sleep Bag.  We went with the inVENTA Sleep Bag in Taupe (4 – 12mths) with a medium weight (1.0 tog) – I figured we’re coming into winter and this weight will work well with the cold that we get here in Canberra.

…how cute is the owl???…

The first thing that struck me about the Love to inVENTA Sleep Bag is just how soft it is. Seriously, it’s making me wish they made them in adult size! The softness comes from the fact that it’s made of bamboo – which also means it’s hypoallergenic (great if your little one has sensitive skin or breathing issues!) and highly breathable (which helps make it better with moisture control and temperature regulation).

The second thing that I noticed was the zippers that ran across the front and back of the sleeping bag.  They’re part of the Love to inVENTA Sleep Bag unique Genius Cooling System that allows parents to moderate their baby’s temperature without interrupting their sleep.

The zippers open to reveal a breathable mesh ventilation system. So handy when the weather is crazy like it has been here the past month.  The only thing I found with using these zippers is that the mesh can sometimes get caught when trying to do the zipper back up.  But now we’re aware of it I just make sure the the mesh is kept out of the way instead of just randomly yanking the zipper closed.

The Love to inVENTA Sleep Bag also has a new Longa Shorta feature which allows you to adjust the length of the bag.  It’s brilliant and we’ve been using it with the Little Man; he doesn’t look like the saggy baggy elephant when he’s sleeping!

…he’s a happy little sleeper…

One of the things I loved about our Love to Dream Love to Swaddle UP (Original) was how easy it was to keep him in the swaddle and change his nappy.  It’s something they’ve also kept for the Love to inVENTA Sleep Bag.  There’s a zipper running the entire side length of the Love to inVENTA Sleep Bag which means you can easily change nappies without having to wake your child up by getting them in and out of their sleeping bag.  (The start and finish of the zipper is protected by a material flap which means little fingers can’t get to the zipper and free themselves!)

Another great feature of the side zipper is that it’s so easy to transfer your child into the sleep bag if they’re already sleeping; the Love to inVENTA Sleep Bag doesn’t have to go over their head! It had these handy side studs that make getting your child in and out of the bag super easy.  The Little Man is a big fan of falling asleep before he’s in his Love to inVENTA Sleep Bag so we’ve used this function a lot and it’s fabulous.

I also love that the Love to inVENTA Sleep Bag means I only have to keep one sheet in his cot instead of the three we were using as he no longer needs covers.  I do so love a device that saves me having more laundry to do!

The Love to inVENTA Sleep Bag also has the ability to be used in conjunction with your car seat or pram as it has access incorporated for your car seat or pram’s 5 point harness.  This is wonderful because if your child needs routine to sleep you can continue to use the Love to inVENTA Sleep Bag even while you’re traveling.

…allows him to still carry on like a pork chop…

We’ve had the Love to inVENTA Sleep Bag for a week now and the Little Man has gone back to sleeping through the night without needing one of us to get up and help settle him again and it’s gold. Seriously, it’s heaven. The Love to inVENTA Sleep Bag allows him to still be able to roll over, crawl and wiggle around his cot like he is now want to do, but I no longer have to worry about him turning into a human popsicle because he’s not under his covers. (Which in turn means I’m not randomly waking myself up in the middle of the night to check on him and make sure he’s got some blanket coverage!)

The Love to inVENTA Sleep Bag starts from AU$69.95 depending on the Tog – which isn’t a small bit of change (especially for a single income family), however the sizing means that you’ll be able to use the bag for babies between 4 – 12 months of age.  That means if your child uses the sleep bag for 8 months it’ll cost you (approximately) AU$0.34 for a good night’s sleep; that’s money well spent!

I really love this product, so much so that the Love to Dream Love to Swaddle UP (Original) became the gift that we give new parents.  Now that the Love to inVENTA Sleep Bag is on the scene I think we’ll be giving the new parents in our lives one of these instead.  You just can’t beat the convenience and the peace of mind.

Disclosure: Love to Dream supplied a Love to inVENTA Sleep Bag in return for a written piece on their product.  All opinions are my own and have not been influenced by Love to Dream.